The pilots are very tired

The pilots of Air France and its subsidiary Transavia, two companies serving Algeria on high frequencies, did not take off. And they warn of a situation that may even affect the safety of passengers on board aircraft.

The Covid-19 epidemic is steadily declining around the world, but its impact on the aviation sector is likely to last longer. Moreover, air traffic is still struggling to take off properly, despite the lifting of major border restrictions.

In France, strikes are multiplying at the level of airports and airlines. Several flights were affected. The situation is likely to get worse in the coming days. On Saturday 25 June, a strike was observed at Air France and its subsidiary Transavia.

The Alter Pilots’ Guild, which originated this movement, has repeatedly warned of the “grave and imminent danger” associated with the “fatigue” of pilots. This Saturday, the president of the federation, Alexandre Rio, returned to the charge in an interview with France Info.

According to him, the observation of such fatigue “comes from the reactions of the pilots themselves.” In fact, “they tell us the theft was unreasonable given external elements to perceive.”

Air France: “All this leads to a lack of calm among the pilots”

It is clear that this situation is caused by a very rapid resumption of air traffic in parallel with an acute shortage of personnel. According to the spokesman, the pilot’s fatigue “is caused by the breadth of flights that are getting more and more”.

The speaker goes further by emphasizing that the company wants to make more profit at the expense of the pilots’ working conditions. He stressed this by saying: “We do not have the personnel (…) All this leads to a lack of calm among the pilots.”

In that sense, he cites the example of Transavia where, in a working aircraft, “You have 4 crews made up because there are four co-pilots, and four co-pilots to be more clear. In Ryanair, there are six of them.”

Although Ryanair is “not a social model to be envious of”, it is clear that the situation “will have a significant impact on pilot stress”. For him, “it will not affect all safety conditions”, but it is clear that pilot fatigue can be a real danger to the flight.